This is Why You Don't Mess With Time
by Lady Elizabeth of New York
Summary: After Sirius finds a time travel book, the Marauders and Lily are thrust into Harry's fifth year. So they have to find a way home, deal with Umbridge and fight Voldemort. This would go a lot smoother if Sirius wasn't having a blast, James wasn't getting to know his son, Lily wasn't worrying over Snape and Harry, Peter wasn't freaking out and Remus wasn't staring at Tonks.
1. Moving Forward

Sirius was the one who found the book. He found it in the library. He usually never set foot in the library. That was Remus' job to be the bookworm. But he had been hiding from Filch after he had dyed Mrs. Norris' fur blue. So Sirius had hid in the back where no one ever seemed to go. He accidentally bumped into a bookcase, he fell down and the book fell into his lap.

It was a book about time travel. Sirius, after hearing Filch asking Madame Pince where he was, decided to read it. He flipped through the pages until he reached a section that talked about potions that could take you to the past or the future.

At once, Sirius was intrigued. He sneaked the book out of the library, ran to the Gryffindor common room and showed the book to James, Peter and Remus.

Peter and James were excited. But of course Remus thought it was too dangerous and said that Sirius should put the book back. But after some bribing from Sirius, some blackmailing from James and a whole lot of begging from Peter, Remus agreed to make the potion.

So they went to the Room of Requirement and started to make the time traveling potion.

"Is it ready?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"No, it's not ready. Just like it wasn't ready five seconds ago," Remus answered crossly.

"How about now?" Sirius questioned, peering into the caldron. Remus glared at him.

"Step away from the caldron before I bite you," Remus snapped. Sirius quickly took a big step back. Remus never said anything about biting people unless he was really mad. And from Remus' death glare, it was safe to say he wasn't in a very good mood.

"What's up with you, Moony? You seem unusually irritated today," James remarked.

"You mean other than the fact that you are forcing me to make this extremely dangerous potion. Nothing at all," Remus said sarcastically.

"What's going on here?" Lily Evans asked as she came into the Room of Requirement.

"Evans!" both Sirius and James shouted for different reasons. James was happy to see her. But Sirius, who knew how much trouble they could get in, was not. He glared at the boy following Lily inside.

"Wormtail, you were supposed to be our lookout," Sirius snapped.

"Sorry guys, I didn't think she even knew about the Room of Requirement let alone know how to get in," Peter apologized sheepishly.

"Evans, don't you look beautiful today. Not that that is a big surprise. You look smoking hot every day," James remarked. Lily rolled her eyes and made a disgusted noise before turning to Remus.

"Remus, what are you making?" she asked in a tone that told him if he lied she would hex him.

"A potion that sends people into the future," Remus admitted. Sirius gave him a glare. He shrugged.

"What? Are you insane? That is very dangerous," Lily chided them.

"Uh, Moony, is the potion supposed to overflow?" James asked. They all looked over to the caldron which was overflowing and was covering the floor.

"That can't be good. Let's get out of here," Sirius suggested. But when they turned around, the door was gone.

Suddenly there was a loud boom and they were drenched by the potion.

And then everything disappeared. They just stood there in an empty room. The door appeared again and the four Marauders and Lily quickly left the room.

"You boys are in so much trouble," Lily snapped, "I'm going straight to McGonagall and she will probably give you detention for the rest of the year. You are so lucky that potion didn't work!"

"Where is everybody?" Peter wondered, he was looking at the map.

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"I only see McGonagall, Dumbledore, Filch, Flitwick, Sprout and Snape," Peter explained.

"We better go see Dumbledore and ask him what's going on," James remarked. They walked to Dumbledore's office and after guessing the password, they walked in.

"Sorry to barge in, Professor but we…" Lily trailed off when she saw the look on Dumbledore's face. He looked as though he had just seen a ghost, "Professor, are you all right?"

"We are in the future, aren't we?" Remus guessed and not just from Dumbledore's shocked face but also because he caught sight of the date on Dumbledore's newspaper.

"IT WORKED!" Sirius shouted happily, pumping his fist in the air.

* * *

"IT WORKED!" Sirius shouted happily, jumping up from the chair he had been sitting in. Tonks looked startled by Sirius' outburst. They had just been playing chess when Sirius' face had suddenly lit up.

"What worked?" she asked. Sirius ignored her and ran to find Remus. He found Remus in the kitchen with a startled expression on his face.

"Moony, it worked!" Sirius exclaimed. Remus glared at him.

"That's not a good thing," he snapped.

"Yes, it is. Wow, I can't wait till I see me or when you, past you, sees your future wife. And when James and Lily see Harry," Sirius said excitedly.

"Sirius, time travel is a very tricky business. Who knows what chaos we have caused just by-What do you mean my future wife?" Remus asked, blushing crimson and doing his best not to look at Tonks.

"Oh come on, Moony, I'm sure nothing bad will happen and you know exactly what I mean," Sirius told him brightly.

"Wait, are you guys saying that your past selves are here?" Tonks asked in surprise.

"Yep, I got to go to the living room so I can greet them," Sirius laughed, running back into the living room.

"I'm going to wait for them too. I want to see if you are even cuter as a fifteen year old," Tonks said sweetly, winking at Remus before walking into the living room, leaving a scarlet faced werewolf behind.

* * *

Peter Pettigrew looked up, his eyes widening. They were here. He was here. His younger self was in the future. Peter looked down at his left arm where the Dark Mark was. He wondered (or did he hope) if it would disappear.

No, even after this he would still betray his friends. After all they were the ones who always thought he was weak. He would realize that and perhaps come and help the Dark Lord even earlier.

"Something wrong, Wormtail?" Voldemort asked.

"N-no, my lord," Peter said softly.

He knew that he would soon realize the truth about his friends. But he also knew that his fifteen year old self would hate the man he had become.


	2. So much has changed

"This is so cool," Sirius laughed, "I can't believe we are in the future. I can't wait to see our future selves. I hope I'm not balding. I wonder if I'm still dating Marlene. I bet I still look hot. And I hope I don't look like my dad. I wonder if-"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP!" Lily bellowed, "We could be endangering ourselves just by being here and all you care about is not balding or looking like your dad!"

"Sorry, I'm just excited. That's all. Come on, Evans, aren't you a little bit curious to know how your life turns out?" Sirius asked.

"You sent for me, Albus?" Severus Snape asked. Lily was shocked to see how much older he looked. Surprisingly, Severus didn't look at Lily. In fact the only person he was looking at was Albus. It was almost as though, he didn't even notice the five teenagers.

"Severus, what happened on April 20 1975?" Albus questioned.

"Potter and his friends disappeared," Severus answered coolly, "We couldn't find them anywhere. We thought they had somehow been captured by Death Eaters."

Lily stared at Severus with a mixture of shock and hurt on her face. Since when did Severus' refer her as Potter's friend? And why was he ignoring her? Lily remembered that the day before today, he was begging her to talk to him_. _

_That was Severus in the past. _Lily reminded herself. Maybe this Severus didn't care about her anymore.

"Um, Evans?" Sirius said quietly, not wanting her to bite his head off like last time.

"What?" Lily asked crossly.

"Professor Dumbledore wants us to go the Order's Headquarters and you are kinda blocking the fireplace," Sirius explained.

Lily blushed.

"Oh, well let's go then," she said flustered, moving out of the way.

"Are you okay?" James asked her worriedly.

"I'm fine," Lily told him.

* * *

"Welcome to the future!" Sirius, older Sirius, shouted overdramatically as they came out of the fireplace. Remus sighed. Twenty years had apparently not made Sirius any less facetious.

"Wait, the Order of the Phoenix is headquarters is my house!" Sirius exclaimed.

"You better keep your voice down, Siri. You don't want to wake up your mum's portrait," a female voice remarked.

Remus turned to see who had spoken and his jaw dropped. Siting in an armchair was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

"Whoa, who is she?" James whispered to Remus, "She's kinda hot."

"Yeah," Peter agreed dreamily.

"Siri?" Sirius asked, wrinkling his nose in disgust, "There is only one person who has ever called me that and she was-Nymphadora Tonks is that really you?" Remus, James and Peter's eyes widened. The woman they had been admiring was Sirius' two year old cousin.

"Wotcher Sirius, it's good to see you," Tonks said with a grin, "It's also nice to see your friends." Remus might be imagining things but Tonks might have been looking at him when she said that.

"I see that they have arrived," a new voice spoke from the doorway.

Remus turned around. And there he was. The future Remus John Lupin. Remus was pleased to see that he was clean shaven. He had seen what he looked like with a mustache (thanks to a prank by Sirius) and it didn't look very good.

"So where is Lily, Peter and me?" James asked, looking around as though he expected to see them pop out from under a couch cushion.

Black's face grew dark, Lupin frowned and Tonks looked at down at her hands. Remus felt prickle of fear, remembering Dumbledore's shocked face and Snape's tenseness when they saw them.

"Albus didn't tell you?" Lupin asked softly.

"No, why? Did something happen to us?" Lily asked worriedly.

"Yes and it was the filthy rat's fault," Black growled, glaring at Peter.

"What do you mean? What did I do?" Peter questioned, sounding fearful. Remus didn't blame him. The deadly look in Black's eyes was quite terrifying.

"You betrayed Lily and James," Black snarled, "You handed them over to Voldemort."

"I wouldn't ever," Peter cried, looking desperately around at his friends as though he hoped one of them would believe him.

"But you did. You are nothing but a cowardly little rat. You don't deserve to be in Gryffindor. You should die like the vermin-" Black shouted.

"SHUT UP!" James roared, whipping out his wand and pointing it at Black, "DON'T EVER TALK TO HIM LIKE THAT!" A woman began screeching. Tonks ran to deal with it.

"But he betrayed you. He's a Death Eater," Black told him.

"James, if he betrayed you…" Sirius began.

"He hasn't done anything," James snapped, "He's not a traitor and he's not a Death Eater."

Black didn't say a word. He just left the room.

"Do you hate me too?" Peter asked Lupin.

Lupin stood there awkwardly. Peter took his silence to be a yes and ran out of the room.

* * *

"What were you thinking?" Tonks asked, her hands on her hips.

"Not now, Tonks. I don't feel like getting in an argument with you," Sirius said with a sigh.

"Sirius, I have to agree with Tonks. You could have handled that better," Remus remarked.

"Would the both of you leave me alone?" Sirius snapped, "I was just telling them the truth."

"Yeah, sort of like Snape does," Remus commented. Sirius glared at him.

"You did not just compare me to Snape," he said angrily.

"All I'm saying is, this is not the Peter we know now. This is the Peter we used to know and you shouldn't have been so hard on him," Remus told him gently.

"I think I'm going to go check on them. They have had a rough day," Tonks remarked, walking out of the kitchen, "Oh and by the way, Remus, you're adorable." Remus blushed and Sirius sniggered.

"I think you have competition, mate, yourself," Sirius laughed. Remus glared at him.

"At least my younger best friend doesn't hate my guts," Remus countered. Sirius stuck his tongue out at him.

* * *

Severus drowned another shot of firewhiskey. He was alone in his chambers and was drinking to relive himself of the pain of seeing Lily again.

"Bad day?" Narcissa Malfoy asked, coming out of the fireplace and sitting down next to him.

"Extremely," Severus answered, "You have no idea."

"Actually I do," Narcissa answered. Severus looked at her with confusion.

"What do you mean?" Severus asked.

"He's here," Narcissa whispered, "Remember he disappeared that day as well. And then when he came back, he told us everything."

"Narcissa, I remember. And I searched the entire castle for him. He's not here, at least not yet," Severus said softly.

"But he will be here and we will save him this time. But we must make sure that Dumbledore doesn't erase their memories," Narcissa remarked firmly. Severus opened his mouth to argue but they were interrupted by the door opening.

"Narcissa? Severus? Is that really you?


	3. Finding out about Harry

Narcissa burst into tears and ran to hug Regulus tightly. It was a bit of a shock for the younger Black sister. Her dear cousin looked just like his fifteen year-old self. Dressed in the finest Hogwarts robes Diagon Alley had to offer and his young complexion twisted into a look of confusion, Narcissa's tears only flowed more as she observed this and gripped the boy a bit tighter.

"You're here," she cried happily, "You're really here."

"Where am I? Why do you guys look so old," Regulus asked slowly, confusion clear in his tone. "Are my brother and his friends here too?"

"You are in 1995, and yes, they are here. Although I'm not sure where," Severus told him.

"What happened? I went to the Room of Requirement to find out what happened to my brother and I slid on some kind of potion," Regulus explained. He paused and the evident befuddlement on his face turned to disbelief. "Those idiots didn't do what I think they did, did they?"

"Unfortunately, it looks that way," Severus replied. "I better go tell Dumbledore that you're here."

"What? No!" Narcissa exclaimed, releasing Regulus from her grasp for the time being. One of her hands, however, still tightly grasped his arm, as if she was scared that if she let him go, he'd disappear again. "Severus, we can't tell Dumbledore. We can't tell anyone. Because it might get back to the Dark Lord and I'm not going to let him kill my cousin again."

Regulus' eyes widened.

"No one in the Order will tell the Dark Lord," Severus assured her.

"Pettigrew might," Narcissa reminded him. "You know he, well his future self, betrayed Potter and the woman you love."

"Pettigrew's a traitor," Regulus repeated, almost forgetting that he was dead in the future and that Voldemort, who his parents were so found of, killed him.

"I'm afraid so. Look, Severus, let's put a glamor charm on him and say he's your cousin," Narcissa suggested, giving him a fierce look.

Severus sighed, "Fine, I'll do it on one condition," he told her.

* * *

"James, if he betrayed you..." Sirius began, but his voice trailed off as if he was afraid to finish that sentence.

"He didn't betray me," James snapped. "He hasn't betrayed anyone."

"Not yet," Sirius finished for him.

"Sirius, can you hear yourself? You're judging Peter just like the rest of the Gryffindors judged you when you first got sorted," James said angrily.

"But they were wrong about me. Are you saying I'm wrong about Peter?" Sirius asked.

"I'm saying that Peter is our friend and until he becomes a Death Eater that's how I'm treating him," James replied fiercely.

"With that logic, shouldn't you be nice to Snape?" Sirius questioned. James glared at him and opened his mouth to argue, but he was interrupted by someone coming up behind them.

"Harry, what're you doing here? Who's that?" a red-haired boy asked.

Sirius and James spun around. The boy's eyebrows furrowed in confused when he saw James' face.

"You're not Harry. Who are you and why do you look like Harry?" he inquired.

"Well we don't know who this Harry is but I'm James Potter and this is Sirius Black," James explained. "Say, you wouldn't happen to be related to Arthur Weasley, would you?" James added as an afterthought. The red hair and the boy's stature and facial features were just painstakingly familiar. However, before James could get a reply, the boy's mouth fell open.

"You can't be James Potter. And you can't be Sirius Black. I just saw you in the kitchen five minutes ago," he remarked, utterly gobsmacked.

"Well Ronald, if you bothered to stay in the kitchen longer than that, you would have heard Sirius explain that his past self and friends had time traveled to our time," a bushy-haired girl told him as she walked towards them.

"Bloody hell, Harry is going to freak," Ron remarked.

"Okay, who is this Harry you keep talking about?" James asked.

"Harry Potter is our best friend and your son," the girl explained, a one of obviousness evident in her tone.

* * *

"Hi, you must be Lily," a red haired girl greeted Lily with a smile. While Remus, James, and Sirius had split up to find Peter, Lily had decided to stay in the living room to take in all that was happening. She had been sitting alone for fifteen minutes when this girl walked into the room.

"Yes, I am," Lily said kindly, extending her hand for Ginny to shake.

"I'm Ginny Weasley," Ginny told her, shaking her hand, "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise. You must be Arthur and Molly Weasley's daughter. Molly would be so pleased to hear that she has a daughter. I heard her telling Arthur how much she wants one," Lily remarked.

"Well she's going to have six sons before she has me," Ginny said with a chuckle. Lily's eyes widened.

"She has seven kids?" she exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise. "She must have a handful. I couldn't imagine being able to handle all that. She must be quite an amazing mother."

"Oh she is," Ginny said proudly. "She's almost as amazing a mother as you are. I mean, you actually died for your son."

Lily's breath caught in her throat. She had heard that she had died but she was shocked to hear that she had a son. This must have shown on her face.

"Oh bloody hell, did you not know that?" Ginny asked guiltily. "I thought Sirius or Professor Lupin would have told you."

"I have a son," Lily said breathlessly. A smile appeared on her face as she pictured the green-eyed baby she would have. "What's his name?"

"Harry James Potter," Ginny replied.

Lily's smile disappeared and she gaped at Ginny in horror.

"WHAT? I marry Potter? I marry that arrogant toe-rag?" she roared. Lupin and Black came running into the room. James, Sirius, a red-haired boy, and a girl came running in through another door.

"What happened?" Sirius asked.

"Um, I think Lily just found out that she marries James," Black answered. James grinned. Black gave Ginny a dirty look, "Why would you tell her that?"

"How was I supposed to know that she hates him," Ginny snapped.

"She doesn't hate him," Black said. Lily glared at him, "Okay, she hates him."

"Sirius, pinch me," James said dreamily.

"Lily, it's going to be okay," Lupin told her gently.

"How can it possibly be okay when I'm going to marry him? I'm going to throw up!" Lily yelled.

"Gee thanks, Evans," James snapped. "I'm sorry that I disgust you that much." With that he stormed out of the living room, leaving everyone to stand there in awkward silence.

"That didn't go very well," Black remarked.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Lupin said dryly, rolling his eyes.

"I'm a traitor," Peter muttered as he sat on the bed.

"No, you're not," Remus told him gently, sitting down next to him.

"Don't you mean 'not yet'?" Peter asked crossly.

"Look, Peter, I won't say you haven't betrayed us in the future. But I know that whoever that future Peter is, he's not you," Remus remarked. "You're still our friend. And until I see that Dark Mark on your arm, you will still be my friend."

"You promise?" Peter asked with a sniffle.

"I promise," Remus assured him.


	4. Harry is here

"Go and apologize to him," Sirius said sternly. Lily stared at him incredulously.

"Why do I have to apologize to him?" she snapped, "I didn't do anything wrong. I just told him how I felt."

"Yeah, well, I feel that Snivellus is a slimy, greasy two-faced git but you yell at me every time I say that to him," Sirius reminded her, "Now go apologize to James before your son gets here and I tell him that his mother is a total hypocrite."

"You wouldn't dare," Lily said in a low voice.

"I just heard that my best friend was killed by another friend. You have no idea how angry I am right now," Sirius told her fiercely.

"Fine, I'll apologize to him," Lily snapped, walking out of the living room.

"Remus, Albus just called. We have to go pick up Harry," Tonks said as she came in. She looked around the room, seeing Ginny's guilty face, Sirius' angry face and Black's awe. "What have I just missed?" she asked curiously.

"I just put Lily in her place," Black told her proudly.

"I guess we should be going," Lupin remarked, shaking his head at Sirius, "Sirius, please behave while I'm gone. And I'm talking to both of you."

"Okay, Moony, enjoy your date with Tonks," Black told him with a grin.

"It's not a date!" Lupin exclaimed, glaring at Black as he turned red.

"It's so a date," Black stage whispered to his younger self. Sirius chuckled. Lupin rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Remus. Let's get going," Tonks remarked, grabbing Lupin's hand and pulling him out of the house.

* * *

"What do you want?" James asked as Lily came into Sirius' room. Lily sat down on the bed next to him.

"To apologize," Lily answered.

"Because you actually feel sorry about what you said or because Sirius and-or Remus told you to apologize," James guessed, not looking at her.

"Okay, Sirius told me to tell you but I didn't mean to actually hurt your feelings," Lily told him, "And for that I am sorry."

"Really? Because you don't seem to care when you hurt my feelings any other time," James snapped.

"When I have ever hurt your feelings?" Lily questioned disbelievingly.

"Just because I don't show it, doesn't mean your insults don't hurt," James snapped.

"Hey, half the time, you deserve those insults. Like when you hex those poor Slytherins," Lily told him furiously.

"POOR SLYTHERINS!" James shouted, "I hex them because they are prejudiced against muggleborns."

"And you're prejudiced against them!" Lily roared.

"Oh! That is not the same thing!" James screamed.

"Yes it is!" Lily yelled.

"You know what? You are so naïve and blind," James told her fiercely, "Maybe if you stopped and looked around for a moment you would realize that some people are just not to be trusted because they're Death Eaters. They were raised to be Death Eaters and act like Death Eaters."

"Like your friend?" Lily shot back.

"Don't bring Peter into this!" James bellowed.

"I meant Sirius," Lily snapped, "He was raised to be a Death Eater and he treats his brother as badly as Malfoy treats me."

"Don't you dare," James growled, "Sirius isn't half as bad as your ex-best friend and he isn't anywhere near as bad as Malfoy."

"I didn't say he was as bad as Malfoy but he treats his brother in a similar fashion as Malfoy treats me," Lily told him, "With disgust."

"Oh, the same way, you treat me," James retorted. Lily opened her mouth to argue but then she closed her mouth and walked out of the room. James groaned and collapsed on his bed. How did they get married when they fought this much?

* * *

"Finally, they stopped yelling," Hermione said with a sigh, "I don't know how two people who fight so much could get married." Ginny sniggered. Hermione glared at her, "What was that?"

"Nothing. I just think you'll find out in maybe seven or eight years," Ginny told her with a grin. Hermione sent her a scathing look.

"I'm going to go and check on Lily. She probably needs someone to talk to," Hermione remarked. Ginny's eyes widened.

"You know what? I can do that," Ginny told her. Sirius, Black, and Hermione gave her a questioning look, "Because redheads understand each other," she finished lamely before running up the stairs. Hermione followed her up.

"What was that about?" Sirius wondered.

"I have no idea," Black replied.

"So, what can you tell me about the future?" Sirius asked eagerly, "I can tell I'm obviously still the handsome devil as I ever was."

"Was there any doubt?" Black laughed, running his fingers through his hair. Sirius unconsciously mirrored his movement.

"So how's my dear old family? I can tell that my mum's dead. But where's Regulus?" Sirius asked. Black sighed. He didn't know what to say. Even though Sirius would never admit it, Sirius loved his brother.

"He's dead," Black replied softly, "I don't know how. From what I heard he got in trouble with You-Know-Who." Sirius paled.

"I can't believe this. He's dead. Did… I mean was Narcissa devastated?" Sirius questioned. Black looked at him with pity. They both knew that he could care less about Narcissa's feelings on Regulus' death.

"Yeah, she was. _She_ couldn't get out of bed for two weeks," Black answered, "It was worse than when Marlene died." Sirius' face crumbled.

"Marlene's dead? Merlin, this is going to kill Evans," Sirius remarked.

"Is that what you care about right now?" Black questioned knowingly.

"No. I can't believe this. Three people I care about are dead. The future sucks," Sirius said sadly.

"Not all of it sucks," Black told him with a half-smile.

"Okay, my best friend is dead, my other friend is a traitor, my brother is dead and my girlfriend is dead. Name me one thing that isn't sucky," Sirius snapped.

"Harry is alive," Black replied.

"I don't know Harry," Sirius reminded him.

"Oh but you will know Harry and he'll be the most important person in your life, besides Moony and Tonks of course," Black assured him. Suddenly there was a loud bang and Sirius' mum started shouting again.

"Harry's here," Black said with a grin, jumping out of his chair, "Go get James, Lily, and Remus. He'll want to see them."

Sirius walked up the stairs and knocked on his bedroom door.

"James, your son is here," Sirius called. Another door opened and Lily peered out.

"Did you just say our son is here?" she asked, her eyes lighting up. She was excited to see her son.

"Yeah, I was just getting James," Sirius explained.

"I heard, Sirius," James told him as he walked out of the same room Lily had been in. Sirius frowned. James and Lily had just been fighting. Usually they couldn't be in the same room after a fight for at least an hour.

"Ginny and Hermione were telling us about Harry," James explained as Sirius and he walked down the stairs. Lily went to get Remus, "He fought a dragon last year when he was fourteen and he's been up to lots of other trouble."

"Wow, he must take after his father," Sirius said with a grin.

"Hopefully, he's as brilliant in DADA like his father," James said with a smile.

"Hopefully, he has my modesty," Lily remarked. James laughed with her. Sirius looked over at Remus with a confused look. Hadn't they just been fighting a few minutes ago? Remus shook his head. He had no idea either.


	5. Pranks and Fixing

He was so very skinny. That was Lily's first thought when she first saw Harry. Her son was so very skinny. Ginny and Hermione had told her that Harry had been raised by Petunia and her husband. Lily wondered if Petunia had been feeding Harry at all.

Harry hadn't seen them yet. He was still talking to Black. Lily wasn't even listening to what Black was saying, she just kept staring at her son. Her child. Suddenly Harry turned to look at them. For some strange reason, Lily grabbed James' hand. James didn't say anything, he just squeezed her hand.

"Hi, Dad, Mum," Harry said, too shocked to say anything else. Lily couldn't take it anymore. She burst into tears and threw her arms around Harry's neck, sobbing very hard as she hugged him. James soon joined the hug.

"How did this happen?" Harry asked when his parents finally released him.

"We kinda decided to made a potion that would send us to the future," Sirius explained.

"WE!" Lily and Remus exclaimed.

"Oh come on, Moony, you agreed to it," Sirius snapped, "And Evans, you didn't have to come and check on us." Lily and Remus rolled their eyes.

"Oh believe me, I have to. I always have to," Lily said with a sigh, "You four get into more trouble than anyone I've ever known."

"I know how that feels," Hermione remarked with a laugh.

"Okay, now that we have had the emotional family reunion, I believe it's time to get down to business," Black commented wiping his wet eyes with his hands, "We have no idea how to get you home because _someone_ lost the book." He nodded his head towards Lupin who glared at him.

"I didn't lose it," Lupin snapped, "I just misplaced it."

"Where's our book?" James asked Remus. Remus looked uncomfortable.

"I think I left it in the Room of Requirement," Remus answered, looking down at his feet seemingly in shame. Lupin frowned but said nothing.

"So all we have to do is go to Hogwarts and retrieve it. And because it's summer, we won't have to worry about anyone being there," James said thoughtfully.

"That's a good idea but we can't risk you guys going back to Hogwarts," Black told him firmly.

"Why not?" Lily asked.

"Because we can't risk You-Know-Who or Fudge finding out about you guys," Black replied, "Fudge will probably think you're some part of Dumbledore's 'plan' to become minister and Voldemort will use you against Harry."

"What if we disguise ourselves as transfer students?" Sirius suggested.

"That could work," Black agreed, "I'll discuss it with the Order at the meeting tonight." Ron, Hermione and Ginny groaned.

Suddenly there were two cracks and two identical red haired boys appeared.

"Is it true!" they asked hopefully, "Are the Marauders really in this house!" Black grinned at them.

"In all our younger glory," he remarked gleefully, "Guys, please meet our biggest fans and fellow pranksters, Fred and George Weasley." James briefly let go of Lily's hand to shake the twin's hands.

"It's an honor to meet you three," Fred remarked as he shook Remus' hand, "But where's the fourth?"

"He wasn't feeling well. So he went to bed early," Remus said quickly, looking away from his friends. He knew that they knew him well enough to spot his lies. Of course he wasn't a very good liar in the first place.

"Well we'd love to show you what we've invented, if you want to," George told them excitedly, looking as though he would be crushed if they said no.

"We'd love to," Sirius remarked. The twins began walking with him upstairs. Remus sighed and followed them.

"Do you mind if I go to?" James asked Lily. Lily suddenly realized that James was holding her hand again and she blushed scarlet.

"Of course, I don't mind. Why would I mind?" she asked softly, quickly taking her hand out of James' hand. James looked disappointed but he shrugged and ran up the stairs after his friends. A minute later, he poked his head around the corner.

"Coming, Harry?" he questioned his son.

"Uh, no thanks. I don't really like pranks," Harry told him quietly. Black and Lupin snickered as James' eyes widened with horror and he promptly fainted. Even Lily couldn't help but giggle at James' reaction. It looked like Harry didn't take after James that much after all.

* * *

"I feel so upset. How can my son, my own flesh and blood, not like pranks?" James wondered, pacing around the room.

"Let it go, James," Sirius said with a sigh as he ate one of Fred and George's sick sweets and then became covered in boils, "Nice. I wish we had these. They would have come in handy when we wanted to cut class."

"Wait till you try our canary creams. You'll get a real laugh out of them," George remarked.

"So are you guys really going to open up a shop with these items?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"Yep and it's all thanks to Harry that we got enough money to do so in the first place. He gave us his winnings from the Triwizard Tournament," Fred answered with an impish grin.

"Hear that, Prongs, Harry might not like pranks but he certainly endorses them," Sirius laughed.

"Yeah, that's great but I wanted him to actually partake in them I remember how proud my dad was when I threw my first dungbomb at my Aunt Hattie," James said sadly as he sat down on the bed.

"I thought you got in huge trouble for that," Remus said curiously.

"Didn't make my Dad any less proud," James told him.

"Well Harry might not play pranks but he's had his fair share of getting into trouble," Fred remarked, "Did you hear about Harry and the three headed dog?"

"No, do tell," James said eagerly, wanting to hear all about the cool things his son did.

* * *

Peter yawned as he turned the page of the book. He heard his door open and close so he quickly hid the book under the quilt of the bed. He looked up to see Remus standing next to the door with a sandwich in his hands.

"Peter, it's two in the morning. You should be asleep by now," Remus chided him sternly, putting the plate on the bedside table. Peter was suddenly reminded of his overprotective mother.

"Sorry, Mum," Peter said, rolling his eyes, "You didn't tell anyone I had the book, right?" he asked.

"You asked me not to," Remus reminded him, "But Peter, you do realize we need that book to get home, right?"

"Of course I know that," Peter snapped, "But we can't go home until I fix this."

"Peter…" Remus began.

"I have to fix this. James and Lily are dead because of me," Peter interrupted him, "And we aren't friends anymore because of me. And I'm not leaving the future until, I have fixed this… or found out why I became a traitor. And the only way I can do that is if I talk to my future self who is currently You-Know-Who's right hand man. So unless you'd like me to go talk to future me, I have to do this."

"Fine but at least eat and go to sleep soon. You won't find a way when you're hungry and tired," Remus told him firmly.

"I owe Sirius twenty galleons," Peter remarked. Remus looked at him weirdly, wondering what that had to do with anything, "He said that all rats were evil. I told him that that wasn't true. I guess he was right."


	6. Who Likes Who

"Fudge is dead when I get my hands on him," James growled. James had found the Daily Prophet in the kitchen. He had read what the newspaper had been saying about his son. He had then went to Lupin to get an explanation. Lupin explained everything to James, Lily, Sirius and Remus. From Voldemort coming back to the dementors which attacked Harry.

"James," Lily warned.

"What?" James asked angrily. "He's calling our son a liar and trying to get him expelled for protecting himself and his cousin."

"I know that," Lily said softly. "But getting angry isn't going to help Harry. We need to be thinking calmly." James said nothing. Lily put her hand on his shoulder which made him relax.

"Did you just call him, James?" Sirius asked in shock. Black and Lupin chuckled. While Remus, James and Lily gave him a scathing look. "What? She's never called him James before. I thought it was strange."

"When's Harry's hearing?" James questioned.

"August 12th," Black answered.

"I'm going," James stated firmly.

"James, you know you can't go. We can't risk anyone finding out about you," Lupin told him gently.

"I am not letting Fudge cross examine my son without me being there," James snapped, jumping up.

"Who's defending Harry?" Lily inquired, gently pulling James back into his seat.

"Albus," Lupin answered.

"Dumbledore?" Sirius asked. Remus gave him a bewildered look.

"How many other Albuses do you know?" Remus inquired dryly. Sirius glared at him.

"James, do you trust Dumbledore?" Lily asked James.

"Well yeah," James replied.

"Then you should trust that he will be able to get our son out of this," Lily remarked. James smiled at her.

"You called him, our son," James commented. Lily blushed.

"Well he is," she said softly. "Dumbledore will be able to help Harry and we'll soon be off to Hogwarts with him, okay?" Lily grabbed James' hand in hers and gently squeezed it.

"Okay."

"Oh for goodness sake, kiss already!" Sirius shouted. Lily quickly withdrew her hand and ran out of the kitchen, blushing scarlet.

James glared at his best friend.

"Thanks mate."

* * *

"Are you okay, Lily?" Ginny asked as she walked into Lily's room.

"I'm fine, Ginny," Lily answered, beginning to remake her bed. It was a thing she did ever since she was little. Every time, something got her anxious or upset, she would clean. When she fought with James, she would end up cleaning the entire Gryffindor tower. Something the house elves didn't appreciate.

"Are you really?" Ginny asked. "Because I've been friends with Hermione for about three years now and you're acting like her when she's upset. Do you want to talk about it? Because I'm good at listening."

"It's a long story," Lily told her.

"Believe me, I'm used to long stories. You should meet my brother, Percy," Ginny commented.

"Wotcher Lily, I heard you were upset and I thought you'd like to have a girl talk," Tonks remarked cheerfully, walking into the bedroom with Hermione. Ginny scowled but said nothing.

"Do you promise to keep this between us?" Lily pleaded.

"Of course," Hermione said sweetly.

"Well it all started when I first boarded the train with my best friend," Lily began. She continued to tell them about James and her history. "And now I think I'm might sorta like him."

"You were friends with Snape," Tonks said in disbelief. Hermione and Ginny gave her a bewildered look.

"Is that the part, you're going to focus on?" Ginny asked.

"Well I can't imagine anyone befriending that miserable, creepy, greasy bat," Tonks remarked.

"Moving on. I think you should definitely talk to him," Hermione told Lily. "Tell him how you feel. He obviously would be happy if you liked him back."

"The thing this, I don't know if I feel like this because I actually do or because I know we have a son," Lily said softly.

* * *

"So what did you hear?" Sirius asked as Fred and George walked into the living room.

"Nothing. Tonks must have used the Imperturbable Charm on the door," Fred said dejectedly. Sirius had sent Fred and George to spy on the girls. They had been ecstatic to get a "mission" from one of their heroes.

"It's okay, guys. By your mum was looking for you so I think you should hide," Black told them.

"Sorry, James, looks like we won't find out if Lily likes you," Sirius said apologetically.

"I don't want to know. I'm just happy that she's being nice to me," James told him.

"Really?" Sirius asked skeptically, raising his eyebrow.

"No!" James exclaimed, stomping his foot. "I wanna know!"

"Well we know she'll end up with you eventually," Sirius reminded him. "She does marry you. So unless you put a love potion in her drink, she'll be yours soon." James nodded. Sirius then turned to Black and Lupin. "He didn't put a love potion in her drink, did he?" he asked in a stage whisper.

Black, Remus and Lupin laughed. James glared at him.

"Shut up, you git," he snapped.

"I better go. I've got to… check on Peter," Remus lied as he walked us the stairs.

"Say hi to Tonks for us!" James shouted after him.

"I better go too. I promised… Dumbledore that I'd talk to him," Lupin lied going in the same direction as Remus.

"Say hi to Tonks for us," Black laughed. Lupin threw him a dirty look over his shoulder.

"Should we be worried that they're going to get into a fight over my cousin?" Sirius wondered.

"That would be weird," James answered.

"But very funny," Black remarked, high fiving Sirius and James.

* * *

"What's going on with you?" Hermione asked as she and Ginny walked down to the dining room.

"What do you mean?" Ginny questioned.

"Well you seem to want to spend a lot of time with Lily," Hermione remarked.

"So? She died for her son. She's my hero," Ginny told her firmly.

"I thought Harry was your hero," Hermione said, her eyebrows furrowed. Then they separated when realization dawned on her. "Oh."

Ginny gave her a glare. "Oh what?"

"I get it. You're being friendly to Lily because you want her to think you're the perfect girl for her son," Hermione remarked. Ginny reddened.

"That is so not what I'm doing," Ginny protested. "Besides, I'm over Harry. You know that."

"Okay," Hermione said in a disbelieving voice. She had a smug smile on her face. Ginny narrowed her eyes at her.

"And who are you to talk? Like you're not doing the same exact thing with my mum," Ginny commented. It was Hermione's turn to blush.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said quickly.

"Oh really? 'Oh Mrs. Weasley, this is delicious. May I help you with the dishes, Mrs. Weasley. Your hair looks lovely today, Mrs. Weasley,'" Ginny imitated Hermione's voice as she spoke.

"There is nothing wrong with being nice to people," Hermione snapped.

"Oh I know, especially if it helps you look good to the mother of your future boyfriend," Ginny teased. Hermione glared at her.

"Oh be quiet. You're no different," she retorted as they entered the dining room.

"What are you two squabbling about," Harry asked from his seat.

"Nothing," the two girls quickly said, turning crimson.


	7. Picking sides

James watched the clock. Harry should be at Sirius' house by now. What on earth could be keeping him? Had he been found guilty? Had Fudge arrested him? James wished that he had gone with Harry. He knew that Black was right that he couldn't go but that didn't stop him from worrying.

"James, you're going to make yourself sick," Black remarked as Sirius' queen took out his knight. "How am I losing to my younger self? I'm older and wiser."

Lupin snorted. "You might be older but you definitely aren't wiser, Padfoot." Black glared at him.

"I agree… with myself, mate, you need to stop worrying about Harry," Sirius told James.

"Well he's not the only one. Lily's cleaning again," Tonks commented as she walked into the kitchen. She looked over at Lupin with a raised eyebrow. "I'm surprised you're not helping her."

"What do you mean?" Lupin asked, bewildered. "I don't clean when I'm upset."

"You didn't clean before Lily… well you know but now you do," Tonks told him with a chuckle. Remus opened his mouth to protest but Tonks swiftly cut him off. "Don't deny it, Remus. Once my mum only mentioned Sirius' name and you ran into our kitchen and did the dishes."

Sirius and Black laughed.

"Maybe I should go and check on Lily," James suggested.

"No need, James. I'm here," Lily said softly. "I can't find anything else to clean."

"Well I have a bunch of dirty clothes, if you wanna wash them," Sirius commented. Remus swatted his head. "What? She might as well do something useful while we're waiting." Remus, Lily, Tonks, Lupin and James glared at him.

Black chuckled as his past-self cringed under their heated glares. "I think you better be quiet mate. I had forgotten how cheeky I was."

"Still are," Tonks corrected.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, James and Lily were put at ease when their son walked into the living room.

"I got off!" he exclaimed with a grin. Everyone cheered. Ginny, Fred, George and Sirius began to chant "he got off" while Ron, Hermione, James and Lily congratulated Harry.

"I knew it!" Ron yelled, punching the air. "You always get away with stuff!"

"He's his father's son," Lily said proudly. James beamed at her.

"They were bound to clear you. There was no case against you, none at all," Hermione told Harry.

"Everyone seems quite relieved, though, considering you all knew I'd get off," Harry remarked with a smile.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Snape drawled as he came out of the fireplace with a black haired boy who resembled him greatly. "This is my cousin, Augustus. He's transferring to Hogwarts from Dumstrung."

James noticed that Lily stepped away from James as soon as Snape entered.

"And why did you bring him here? We barely tolerate you," Black said snidely. Augustus visibly flinched at Black's words.

"I'm merely here on orders from Dumbledore. I brought Augustus along because my aunt didn't want him home alone," Snape told him.

Lily's eyebrows furrowed in confusion but she said nothing. James made a note to ask her about this later.

"Let's go into the dining room then," Lupin suggested before Black could make another remark. Everyone moved to go into the dining room, Mrs. Weasley stopped her children, Harry, Hermione, the Marauders and Lily.

"Not you lot," she said firmly. "You're to stay here and don't even think about eavesdropping."

"Mum, we're appalled that you would think we would eavesdrop," George protested with mock hurt.

"What kind of blokes do you take us for?" Fred asked incredulously. Mrs. Weasley rolled her eyes and walked into the dining room after throwing one more stern look over her shoulder.

While Fred and George took out the Extendable Ears, James looked around for Lily. He noticed she had left along with Snape's cousin. Sirius followed James' gaze.

"Want me to go after them?" he asked.

"No," James said, trying to keep his tone cool. Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Just go," James said through gritted teeth.

* * *

"So who are you really?" Lily inquired.

"What do you mean?" the boy asked innocently.

"Both of Sev - I mean Snape's parents don't have any siblings," Lily told him plainly. "He told me himself."

"Fine but you can't tell anyone especially not my brother," Regulus said softly.

"So you're Reg-" Lily began.

"Sssh, not so loud," Regulus hissed. "Narcissa will kill me and Severus if she finds out we let anyone find out my identity."

"But they're the Order of the Phoenix. Why would they tell anyone?" Lily questioned.

"Because I'm a soon to be Death Eater. I'm not exactly, their favorite kind of people," Regulus explained.

"That doesn't mean that they won't-" Lily started to say only for Regulus to shush her again. He mouthed: "Behind us." Lily got the message. "Well, it was nice talking to you, Augustus. Thanks for talking to me about your cousin." With that she walked up the stairs, back to her room.

"Augustus" walked in the opposite direction. He pretended not to hear a shout of pain when he trodded on something he could not see.

* * *

"I thought I told you to keep an eye on Regulus and keep him away from danger," Narcissa hissed angrily as soon as Regulus and Severus stepped into Snape's house. "Not to bring him to the Order of the Phoenix. Do you realize what they could have done to him if they had found out who he really was?"

"Oh for goodness sakes, Narcissa, stop mollycoddling me," Regulus snapped. "I'm not going to get myself killed." Narcissa threw him a very dirty look.

"Not yet anyway," she said crossly.

"Oh would both of you shut up!" Severus exclaimed angrily. "Honestly, I can't hear myself think with you two bickering."

"Just like old times," Regulus muttered.

"Narcissa, I realize that you're worried for Regulus' safety but you must realize that our plan will succeed. No one will suspect that Regulus is anyone other than my cousin," Severus said firmly.

Regulus coughed in his hand. Oddly, it sounded more like a laugh. Narcissa's eyes widened.

"Don't tell me, _she_ figured it out," Narcissa said angrily, giving Severus a deadly glare. To Severus' credit, he did not even flinch. Even Lucius Malfoy cowered beneath Narissa's death looks.

"She does happen to know my family," Severus reminded Narcissa as calmly as he could. Narcissa sighed annoyed.

"Severus, I know that Mrs. Potter means a lot to you but if she cause me to lose my cousin or anyone in my family for that matter, I will not hesitate to kill you both," Narcissa snarled.

* * *

"I don't get it. Why would you let a known Death Eater be in the Order of the Phoenix?" Sirius asked.

"I dunno. Ask Dumbledore, he's the one who trusts Snape for some unexplained reason," Black answered.

"Sirius, please don't start," Lupin begged. "And I'm talking to both of you."

"I'm just saying, Snape is the worst Slytherin there is," Sirius said savagely. "You shouldn't trust him." Black nodded his head in agreement. Lily, however, glared at Sirius.

"Worst Slytherin?" she repeated angrily. "Has he crucioed Alice and Frank into insanity like your deranged cousin? Has he tried to kill your godson like You-Know-Who has? Or has he killed Marlene and her entire family?"

"Lily, you can not be standing up for him again. Not after what he said to you," Sirius complained. Lily reddened in anger but before she could say another word, James stepped in.

"Sirius, can you just lay off Snape, okay?" James pleaded. Sirius gaped at his best friend. Normally James would always agree with him especially when it came to Snape.

"Are you actually taking her side?" Sirius asked in shock.

"Yes, I am," James answered firmly. "Just let it go."


	8. At Hogwarts

"You can not come to the train station with us," James said firmly, glaring at the black dog who was actually the future version of his best friend. The dog barked. To everyone's amazement, James seemed to know what the bark meant. "I don't care if you're worried about Harry and you want to make sure he gets on the train okay. You're a wanted criminal and I'm not taking that risk." Black whimpered and hanged his head. "That look may work on your girlfriend but it won't work on me."

"Congrats mate, you're now Mrs. Weasley," Sirius joked. James gave him a withering look.

"All right then. Are we all ready?" Tonks asked cheerfully as she walked into the kitchen.

"I am," Remus answered quickly, jumping up, causing Sirius to snicker. "We're just missing Peter."

"I'm here," Peter said gloomily as he walked down the stairs, carrying his luggage. Lupin was helping him. James felt a twinge of guilt. He had been so worried about Harry that hadn't even noticed Peter's absence.

"Where have you been hiding yourself, Pete? We've been missing you a lot," James remarked with a smile, hoping to cheer his friend up. But that seemed to have the opposite effect on Peter's mood.

"Yeah right," Peter muttered before walking out of the house, Remus and Lupin not far behind.

* * *

After much arguing, James finally got Black to agree, albeit reluctantly, to stay in his house while they went to the train station. After saying goodbye to Lupin, Tonks, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, the teens got onto the train.

Sadly, they could not all fit in the same compartment so Ginny and Lily stayed in the compartment with a dirty blonde haired girl and the son of Frank and Alice Longbottom. Lily was eager to talk to Neville because she had been best friends with his mother.

The Marauders and Harry on the other hand sat in a different compartment while Ron and Hermione went off with the other prefects.

It was a good train ride. Even Peter managed to crack a smile when James and Sirius told the story about the first time Remus had a crush on a girl. (Remus was not happy about that subject and tried, in vain, to change it).

"And then he tripped over his robes and his pumpkin juice drenched her," Sirius laughed.

"New topic please," Remus growled through gritted teeth. Peter decided to show Remus some mercy.

"Hey, Prongs, tell them about the time, we put that snake in Snape's…." Peter trailed off when he saw James' suddenly serious face. James had guessed that Harry had taken after his mother and James absolutely didn't want Harry hearing about how much he bullied Snape.

Luckily for James, Ron and Hermione took this opportunity to show up.

"Guess who's Slytherin's prefect?" Ron remarked.

"Malfoy," Harry said almost immediately, a scowl on his face.

"Malfoy? I was so hoping that my dear cousin wouldn't have any children with that bigot," Sirius said dryly.

* * *

The train ride came to an end and they all went to the carriages where they were introduced to Luna Lovegood. Harry stopped abruptly when he saw the front of the carriage.

"What's the matter, Harry?" Ron asked.

"What are those horse things?" Harry questioned curiously.

"What horse things?" Ron asked, giving him a perplexed look.

"The ones pulling the carriage," Harry explained impatiently. Remus' eyes widened and Lily gasped.

"Harry, they can't see them," Remus told him a in a whisper.

"Why not?" Harry inquired, a little confused. James looked from Remus to Harry. What was going on? Why could Remus and Harry see whatever was pulling the carriages but the rest of them couldn't see?

"Because only those who have witnessed someone dying, can see them," Luna answered kindly.

James opened his mouth to ask who Harry had seen die when Lily grabbed his hand and shook her head. James got the message. That was a question for another time.

* * *

"And I would like welcome our six new exchange students," Dumbledore announced merrily. "Augustus Snape will be joining the Slytherins. In Gryffindor we have Russell Lester, Iris Evans, Justin Paget, Samuel Tonks and Patrick Pettigrew."

Lily was allowed to keep her last name because she was muggleborn. Sirius was pretending to be a relative of Andromeda's husband, Ted. Only a few people knew of Peter's deception, so he was allowed to keep his surname. However, James and Remus' names were too recognizable.

Everyone clapped as James and Sirius bowed.

"You're such a show-off, James," Lily said, rolling her eyes. James couldn't help but notice that her voice was friendly rather than annoyed and she had called him James again. James grinned at her.

Dumbledore began to talk about the Quidditch tryouts when someone coughed loudly. James' eyes widened in horror, when he saw who the culprit was. Dolores Umbridge in her toady glory.

"Why does that woman look familiar?" Sirius whispered to James, spraying him with little bits of chicken he was eating.

"First of all, don't talk until you swallow. I believe we've been over this topic at least a hundred times," James snapped. "And second of all, she was that horrible second year girl who tried to get us expelled for no other reason than we were, to use her words, 'devilish hooligans." Sirius grimaced at the memory.

"Before or after you broke all of her dishes with those kitties on them?" Remus asked dryly. James and Sirius gave him a glare.

"That's beside the point, Moony. Harry said she was at his trial and she voted against him," James remarked.

"She did what?" Sirius asked, outraged. "Oh that is it, that witch with a b is going down."

"James, Sirius, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Lily commented sternly. "Why do you think she's at Hogwarts in the first place?" The two boys looked at her blankly. "Because Fudge put her here to discredit Harry. I think it would be best if we don't do anything to anger her."

"Don't worry, Lily, I'll make sure they behave," Remus told her firmly. Lily gave him an annoyed look.

"Because you always can get them to behave," she said sarcastically. James laughed.

"She has a point, mate." Remus glared at him.

"She does not."

* * *

After dinner, they walked up to the Gryffindor tower. Lily said goodbye to the boys before walking up to the fifth year girls' dormitory. Two girls, Lavender and Parvati sat on a bed, giggling over a magazine. Lily was strongly remind of Marlene and Mary. But within the next five minutes, Lily wished that she hadn't ever compared these two girls to her friends.

"Oh hello. You're Iris Evans, right?" Lavender asked as Lily began taking her nightgown and her uniform that she would wear tomorrow out.

"Yes, yes I am," Lily answered, smiling brightly at them.

"We saw you on the train, you were sitting with Harry Potter's supporters," Parvati remarked with a kind smile. "Don't worry we don't judge you for talking to them." Lily's smile immediately dropped.

"What does that mean?" she asked coldly.

"Well they're friends with that liar," Lavender replied. "Trust me, you don't want to hang out with anyone associated with him or Dumbledore."

"Well I happen to think that Dumbledore is a great wizard and I believe that Harry is telling the truth," Lily said haughtily.

"Why? It's obvious that Potter's only looking for attention," Parvati told her. Lily wanted to throttle them both. How dare they call her son a liar and a attention seeker. But before Lily could say another word, Hermione walked in. She noticed Lily's flaring nostrils and her red cheeks.

"Everything all right in here?" she asked.

"We were just telling Iris here that Potter is nothing more than an attention wh-" Lavender was cut off by a stinging hex barely missing her.

"Don't talk about him like that!" Lily shouted.

"Lil-Iris, please, don't. I don't want to have to give you detention," Hermione told her gently before turning towards Lavender and Parvati. "Now would you two keep your big fat mouths shut about Harry?"

Lily smiled. If she and James managed to step themselves from dying, Lily hoped she would have a daughter just like Hermione.

Lily grimaced when she realized that she had just admitted to herself that James was going to be the father of her children.

* * *

_**I'm sorry that I didn't include Luna practically at all in this chapter. That was because realistically, all of them couldn't fit into one compartment. **_


	9. The Toad Must Pay

Two weeks had passed since the start of term feast, and the Marauders had decided to meet in the Room of Requirement. Lily said she wanted to get a head start on her homework and didn't join them. For once, James was glad. Because they were discussing Umbridge and her method of detention.

"That toad must pay," Sirius growled. "She must pay for what she did."

"Sirius," Remus warned him.

"Don't tell me that you disagree with me, Moony. Didn't you see what she did to Harry and Prongs? She practically butchered them," Sirius snapped. Harry had told Umbridge flat out that Voldemort had returned. And when Umbridge called Harry a liar, James had jumped to his defense, landing them both in detention where they were forced to use what Sirius called Blood Quills.

"I know what she did," Remus told him firmly. "And I find it barbaric but do you really think that losing our tempers is going to help us against her. We need to think rationally and calmly."

"I swear she's worse than my mother," Sirius muttered. "At least my mother doesn't pretend to be nice."

"Look, as much as I loathe to admit it, Moony has a point. If we don't deal with her reasonably, we'll be expelled and won't be able to protect Harry," James remarked. "Right now, the only advantage we have is that she doesn't know us."

"That's it! Prongs, you're a genius!" Sirius exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. James, Peter and Remus gave him a weird look. "Think about it. How did we get back at Snape for telling McGongall about James' invisibility cloak?"

"We put a dungbomb in his trunk," Peter guessed.

"Nope that was for his birthday," Sirius reminded him. James was very thankful that Lily was not here otherwise she would have probably hexed them. "We turned into our animal forms and chased him around his dormitory. Then we turned back, hid under the invisibility cloak so when a prefect or a teacher came, they wouldn't believe Snape. In fact the whole school thought he was making it up. They teased him about the imaginary monsters for two years."

"We are such gits," James mumbled.

"So I say we do something similar to Umbridge," Sirius explained. Then he turned to look at James, realizing what James had just said. "What do you mean we are such gits? He deserved every single one of our pranks."

"We pranked him on his birthday for crying out loud. And we did it for no reason other than Lily giving him a flower petal that turned into a fish," James snapped.

"Actually that was her present to Professor Slughorn," Remus commented. James and Sirius ignored him.

"What's the matter with you? You and I both know that Snape was a Death Eater in training and you now know that he's a Death Eater," Sirius remarked crossly. "Is this just to impress Evans?"

"I don't know if you have noticed this but Voldemort wants my son and yet Snape hasn't handed him over to Voldemort. Instead he's protecting my son. Yeah, he's a total prick but at least he's trying to help Harry," James reasoned.

"Oh please, the only reason you are defending him now is because you found out that Lily choose you. After all that is the only reason you hated him in the first place," Sirius said angrily. James's eyes narrowed.

"Stop it!" Peter shouted. James, Sirius and Remus looked at him in surprise. Peter never raised his voice. "Please stop fighting. Let's just focus on the reason we're here. To defeat Umbridge."

* * *

Lily walked into Severus' office. She knocked on his door.

"Come in," Severus said. Lily took a seat in front of his desk. She waved her wand to shut the door and lock it. "What would you like?" Severus asked, not looking up from his parchment. Lily sighed. She hadn't even started talking and it was already going badly.

"I would like it if you looked at me," Lily told him softly. Severus took a deep breath and he looked up slowly. "You've been avoiding me, Severus."

"I didn't think you'd want to talk to me," Severus said coolly. Lily narrowed her eyes at him.

"Bull," Lily snapped, giving him an annoyed look. "When I didn't want to talk to you in my time, you wouldn't leave until Alice, Marlene and Dorcas hexed you."

"Back then, I had hope that you would forgive me," Severus muttered. Lily felt a lump form in her throat. She quickly swallowed it.

"I had forgiven you, Severus. I forgave you an hour after you called me that name," Lily told him quietly. "But that wasn't the point. You called every muggleborn by that name. You hated muggles and you loved the Dark Arts."

"I didn't hate muggles," Severus protested weakly. Lily gave him a knowing look. "I just didn't like how they treated our kind. And I thought the Dark Arts would make me stronger. I wanted power, Lily, power over my enemies."

"Did you get power?" Lily asked.

"Lots of it," Severus answered quietly. "But it wasn't what I wanted. Unfortunately, I realized it far too late. I had already signed your death certificate." Lily furrowed her brow in confusion. "The Dark Lord went looking for your son because of a prophecy. A prophecy I told the Dark Lord about."

Lily's eyes widened. She stood up and slapped Severus' cheek before running out of his office. Severus closed his eyes tightly and rubbed his stinging cheek which was becoming wet with his tears.

* * *

Sirius walked down the hallway, still fuming. How could James stick up for Snape? Snape was the biggest greasiest slimeball in the universe. He was a Dark Arts loving arse and he deserved everything he got.

"I hate Slytherins," Sirius muttered.

"Surely, we're not all bad," Augustus remarked with a smirk, standing idly against the wall. Sirius spun around.

"What do you wa…" Sirius trialed off, her brow furrowing and his eyes narrowing. Something about this boy seemed familiar.

"Something wrong, Mr. Tonks?" Augustus asked in a tone that said that he knew exactly what was wrong.

"Have we met?" Sirius asked in surprise.

"I dunno. Maybe you met my brother," Augustus suggested in mock thought.

"You have a brother," Sirius repeated.

"Yeah, he doesn't like to acknowledge me as his brother though. You see he replaced me with this spoiled bullying prick," Augustus explained. "And because I'm in Slytherin, he refuses to talk to me or even act like I exist. The funny thing is that's exactly how my family treated him."

"Sounds like he's a bit of a hypocrite," Sirius remarked. Augustus started grinning from ear to ear.

"Yeah, he is," Augustus agreed. "And not that observant either."


End file.
